1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates generally to transmission of facsimiles over the Internet. More particularly, this invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program product configured to transmit facsimiles over the Internet via electronic mail messages.
2. Discussion of the Background:
There are several ways to transmit a facsimile. Conventionally, facsimile transmission has required the use of either a source fax machine or a computer with a fax modem. For example, FIG. 1 shows a source fax machine 100, a computer with a modem 102, and a destination fax machine 106 connected to public switched telephone network (PSTN) 104. Either the source fax machine 100 or the computer 104 dials the fax number of the destination fax machine 106 to transmit the facsimile over standard telephone lines, PSTN 104. These fax machines are commonly known as G3 fax machines.
The shortcomings of the conventional systems are as follows. For the source fax machine 100, the user is required to go to the fax machine, insert the documents to be faxed, and manually dial the fax number of the destination fax machine 106. This can be a problem if the source fax machine is not nearby. In the case of the computer, a fax modem is required in order for the computer to transmit a facsimile. This requires the user to either install a fax modem on his computer or go to a computer that already has a fax modem. Either option is inconvenient for the user.
With the advent of the Internet, Internet fax has emerged and been standardized as specified by RFCs (Request for Comments) 2301–2305. Systems for transmitting a facsimile over the Internet rather than the PSTN has been developed. This transmission has been performed by either a source fax machine or a computer. For example, FIG. 2 shows a source fax machine 200, a computer 206, and a destination fax machine 204 connected to the Internet 202. Either the source fax machine 200 or the computer 206 transmits a facsimile to the destination fax machine 204 over the Internet 202. The source fax machine and the destination fax machine have electronic email addresses. These fax machines are commonly known as Internet fax machines.
Ricoh Internet fax machine 4800L is an exemplary source fax machine 200 and destination fax machine 204 of FIG. 2. The Ricoh Internet fax machine can send and receive facsimile transmissions over the Internet via electronic mail messages. The process for sending a facsimile is as follows: The user inserts a document to be faxed into the Internet fax machine and enters the electronic mail address of the facsimile recipient. The Internet fax machine then scans the document to create an image in TIFF format and sends an electronic mail message with the image as an attachment through the Internet to the electronic mail address entered by the user.
The Internet fax machine may send a facsimile to the electronic mail address of another Internet fax machine or a computer, for example. The process for receiving a facsimile at a Ricoh Internet fax machine is as follows: The Internet fax machine receives an electronic mail message from the Internet and extracts the TIFF image attachment. The Internet fax machine then prints the image. If the Internet fax machine sends the facsimile to a computer, the facsimile is received as an electronic mail message at the computer. The computer user can then open the message and view or print the attached image file.
The Ricoh Internet fax machine can also send a facsimile to a G3 fax machine, i.e. a fax machine connected to the PSTN, rather than the Internet, by dialing the fax number of the G3 fax machine. Conversely, the G3 fax machine can transmit a facsimile to the Internet fax machine by dialing its fax number.
However, there are the following limitations or shortcomings with the current Internet fax and Internet fax machines. First, a facsimile image attached to an electronic mail message is in TIFF format. Other file formats like MS document or Excel Spread Sheet are not accepted by a standard Internet fax machine. Second, for an Internet fax machine, the user must still go to the source fax machine and perform the necessary steps manually to transmit the facsimile. So the fax machine must be nearby.
The first limitation was overcome by the Kelly patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,104), which disclosed a method for capturing print images from a computer application software program and then transmitting the images to an electronic mail address specified by the user. The fax destination in Kelly can only be an electronic mail address. Since G3 fax machines are not addressed by an electronic mail address, the method in Kelly cannot be used to send the facsimile image to a G3 fax machine. Since G3 fax machines far outnumber Internet fax machines, the method in Kelly would be far more useful if the destination fax machine could be a G3 fax machine.
The challenge, as recognized by the present inventor, is to create a way to ask or request a remote Internet fax machine to send a facsimile even though the Internet fax machine is not nearby and thus overcome the second limitation of Internet fax machine mentioned above, to send any documents or images stored on a computer to and from anywhere in the world, and to extend the capabilities and usefulness of the Internet fax machine.